Former England skipper Michael Vaughan has urged England to get rid of openers Rory Burns and Dom Sibley after another poor outing against India at Lord’s. Vaughan backed Dawid Malan to get another go in the Test cricket.
England batsmen had a horror day at Lord’s during the second innings of the Lord’s Test. Vaughan feels Haseeb Hameed should be promoted to open the innings while Dawid Malan can bat at number three.
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“I want a bit more substance and experience. I want to see Dawid Malan at three. England cannot keep going with the Rory Burns-Dom Sibley opening partnership after 10 ducks this year. It is the definition of insanity. It just does not work,” Vaughan wrote in his column for The Telegraph.
“In total, 37 per cent of their partnerships this year have not gone past the second over. That is staggering. You can’t carry on with that and England know it. I would give Hameed his rightful spot to open and throw in Malan. England now need a little bit of substance. They have three games against India then straight into an Ashes series,” he added.
Both, Rory Burns and Dom Sibley bagged ducks in the second innings, making it the first such instance happening in a home Test for England. Joe Root showed some resistance but England eventually got all-out for 120 and lost the Test by 151 runs.
Meanwhile, England will turn up in the third Test at Leeds without Ben Stokes, who took an indefinite break from cricket. Stokes pulled off a heist the last time when England played at Headingley in Ashes 2019.
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Vaughan feels England would find it difficult to come back in the series from here in absence of their talismanic all-rounder.
“It is going to be so hard to recover without Stokes. They had one of the greats to get them out of a hole in the last Ashes Test at Headingley. They were bowled out for 67 but Stokes played the greatest innings of all time. Now there are signs this series could get very messy for England,” Vaughan wrote.
“They have to find some spirit and belief. They have to hope someone turns up and does something like Stokes did two years ago. It will probably have to be Joe (Root) again,” he said.
Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami punished the England bowlers for letting the guard down on day five and shared an unbeaten 89-run stand for the ninth wicket. As a result, India’s lead swelled to 271. England crumbled under the immense heat put on by the Indian fast bowlers in the last two sessions and got all-out in 51.5 overs for 120.
